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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 14, 2024 19:32:01 GMT
It has been dry today,for a change so I had the afternoon on the allotment ,the first time for over a week.I carried on weeding what will be the root crop bed. This was the brassica bed last year and there were still some sprouts on it.I picked the rest of them but they were very small and dug half of the plants up.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 15, 2024 20:28:34 GMT
It rained this morning and evening but was dry this afternoon. Didn't have time for much gardening except watering which I do every morning. I went to the garden centre because I need some more basket plants,particularly surfinias and calibracoas because I find these hard to keep through the winter but they had not got any in yet. I then rubbed a lot more labels.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 16, 2024 20:22:00 GMT
Showery today. Went in the greenhouse this morning and sowed my sweet peas.I sow them in drinking cups.A standard seed tray holds 15 of these cups.I have 6 varieties of cordon sweet peas and I sowed 15 cups of each.There are more than 20 seeds in most of the packets so I put 2 seeds in some of the cups. Apart from the 6 varieties of cordon sweet peas I have a dwarf variety called "Jet set" and I sowed 12 cups of this.Put all the trays under the greenhouse staging where they can stay till the seeds germinate.Went in the greenhouseagain for a bit this afternoon and potted about 60 rooted cuttings of diascias into cell trays.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 17, 2024 19:59:08 GMT
Not a bad day.It just did a few spots of rain this afternoon .Ha an hour on the allotment this morning and carried on with the weeding .Got rid of the remaining sprout plants. We went a walk this afternoon then I filled some trays with compost ready for pricking out .This evening I have been pricking out lobelia.I normally prick out lobelia in clumps of three or four plants but germination has not been as good as usual so if the plants were large enough I have pricked them out singly.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 18, 2024 20:50:53 GMT
Nice this morning but it started raining mid afternoon and carried on most of the day. Went on the allotment this morning and carried on weeding a strip on the root crop bed and nearly finished it. This afternoon I went to Blackleach for the art club the to school for the garden club for the first time this year.I will be going every week now on my way home from Blackleach. I will tell you about it on the garden club page.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 20, 2024 20:12:30 GMT
Couldn't get on the forum yesterday but Martyn has sorted the problem for me. Yesterday I went to our local garden centre and got 30 basket plants, mostly surfinias and calibracoas. My alyssum hasn't germinated as well as usual so I got another packet and sowed them when I got home. We went a walk in the afternoon.
I then took another 37 dahlia cuttings .In the evening I pricked out two trays od 54 French marigolds.
Not done much gardening today. Went to the hut at 10.30.This afternoon we have been another walk then I took another 12 dahlia cuttings which will probably be the last.Also pricked out 20 Love lies bleeding into cell trays.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 21, 2024 20:29:25 GMT
It has been dry today. I stll have some weeding to do on the allotment but I decided that what I wanted to do in the greenhouse was a bit more urgent.So, this afternoon I took 120 cuttings off the basket plants that I bought last Friday but I still have more to do.I put them in margerine tubs,6 in each tub.I had to take two boxes of dahlia tubers off a warming bench to put them on.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 22, 2024 19:45:10 GMT
It has been showery today.Took another 48 cuttings from the basket plants,168 altogether from 30 plants. This evening I have pricked out 3 boxes of cosmos,48 per box.They are blue plastic boxes from the greengrocers .They are deeper than the seed trays that I use for small plants like lobelia and French marigolds. I line them with polythene cut from compost bags.  168 cuttings from basket plants,28 margerine tubs each containing six |
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 23, 2024 20:09:56 GMT
My next important job is to sow the tender vegetables that can't be planted out till there is no risk of frost, late May or early June. These include runner beans, climbing French beans, marrows, courgettes and sweet corn.I sow all these in pots in the greenhouse .Sweet corn go in drinking cups but the rest go in 4 inch square pots.Didn't have time to sow any today but this morning I filled a lot of pots ready for doing so. I have told you before about Cindy who comes Tuesday afternoons to look after Rosemary then I can go out.So I took the opportunity to go to the allotment. I finished weeding the root crop bed then started doing the path between this and the next bed. I need to carry on with my pricking out in the evenings and today I have done two boxes of marigolds "Tall Scotch prize "and three trays of French marigolds,two of "honeycombe" and one of "Zenith yellow".
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 24, 2024 21:22:57 GMT
Dry today so I went to the allotment this morning and carried on weeding the path I was doing yesterday.Before I went I sowed about 40 runner beans in the pots I filled testerday.Put then on a propagator in my larger greenhouse.Took a box of dahlia tubers off to make room for them.
We went a walk this afternoon then I mowed the lawns.This evening I have pricked out two trays of antirrhinums.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 25, 2024 20:41:40 GMT
It was a bit drizzly this morning but it dried up this afternoon and it has rained heavily this evening.There was no walk at Blackleach again so I went in the greenhouse.After watering which I do every morning I filled three boxes with compost for pricking out this evening and filled a lot more pots for sowing tender veg but didn't have time to sow any.This afternoon I went to Blackleach for the art club then to school.This evening I have pricked out two boxes of 48 calendulas and one of asters.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 26, 2024 20:24:19 GMT
It has been dry today but there were some black clouds so I didn't risk going to the allotment.Apart from going for a walk this afternoon I have been in the greenhouses the rest of the time.I have sown all the rest of the tender veg ,10 each of marrow "tiger cross", courgette"aurelia" and squash "hunter" in 4 inch square pots and 20 sweet corn "earlibird" in drinking cups. I have taken all the boxes of dahlia tubers from the propagators and warming benches to make room for these veg. This evening I have pricked out 2 boxes of 48 stocks and the remaining asters into 2 cell trays of 10.
Heather is coming tonight for the weekend but she hasn't arrived yet (9.25)
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 27, 2024 20:22:59 GMT
It has been dry again today but like yesterday I didn't risk goimg to the allotment because the sky was dull and showers were forecat.So I had another afternoon in the greenhouses.My large home made propagator in the greenhouse stands on sheets of asbestos with a large sheet of glass on the top( was a shower curtain). There was not much in it now so I removed what there was.Some were no longer needed and the rest I found room for on one of the warming benches.When it is no longer in use I take off the glass and put the sheets of asbestos on the top.This gives me a lot more room because I put plants on the top. My tomato plants were still in small custard pots on a warming bench. I potted 36 of them into 4 inch square pots and put them on asbestos.There was no room for them on the warming bench after they had been potted on and they needed doing.I then got the trays and boxes ready for pricking out this evening. I pricked out a boxof 48 statice and one of stocks"apricot column" then a tray of 54 godetia and one of rudbeckia "marmalade" and another cell tray of 10 asters.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 28, 2024 21:23:38 GMT
Another afternoon in the greenhouse.I potted all the remaining rooted chrysanth cuttings (46) and about 15 dahlias.Although I have taken all the boxes of dahlia tubers off the warming benches they are still growing and I took another 36 cuttings.I am having a rest from pricking out this evening so I have watched Gardeners World that I recorded on Friday. I wanted to watch it because I had been told that someone who I know (Ken Harrop) was going to be on.He used to judge our shows at Worsley. I regard him as a chrysanth man and he is the show manager of the chrysanth shows at R.H.S.Bridgewater and I see him there.On Gardeners World,though, he was showing us all his daffodils and I didn't know that he grew them.
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Post by derekbrooks on Apr 30, 2024 21:40:41 GMT
Yesterday I potted some more rooted cuttings of diascias into cell trays.I still had the plants from which I got these cuttings.I took a few more cuttings and got rid of the plants. Potted 8 more tomato plants into 4 inch pots. Pricked out some stocks"Apricot column", rudbeckia "marmalade", aster "duchess" and godetia into cell trays .These were some that were left after I had pricked out trays or boxes of them. Pricked out a box each of Chrysanthemum "Rainbow" and stocks"earlibird" and a tray of nicotiana sylvestris.Also potted some coleus and streptocarpus from small pots into 4 inch pots.
I am now going to tell you why I haven't been able to do my bird and wild flower survey at Blackleach country park last weekend unless you already know.You may have seen the reason on the television news. Some human body parts have been found at Blackleach and other places. On the other side of the main road at the top of the drive where we live there is a walkway on which you can walk right up to Blackleach.For the last few days there has been a police car at this entrance stopping people from walking down this walkway. The lady in the car told me that the police were searching all the area from here right up to Blackleach. Yesterday morning I went to Blackleach and there were seven police cars there and one was at the entrance stopping people going in.I was hoping to find out how long it would be before we could go in but they couldn't tell me.I mentioned the art club on Thursday and they said it was doubtful that we could have it.I am thinking of going on Friday to ask if we will be able to go in at weekend
I typed all this up yesterday but before I posted it on the forum I must have pressed a wrong key and I lost it all.I hadn't time to type it again then because it was bed time
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